It Takes Two
by tamechampagne
Summary: "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned,"
1. Chapter 1

Caroline made herself comfortable in her bed, remote in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. She hit play and settled back onto a pillow. She'd stared at the dvd for hours, battling with herself on whether or not she should watch, but she was a masochist.

She sat and watched Klaus get down on one knee and propose. He'd arranged for Stefan to be there to record it and still keep it a secret from her. She watched her other 3 engagements, because she kept insisting that he had to do it right. A tear fell as she remembered how irrational everyone thought she was being, especially Elena, who insisted she was just lucky to be proposed to once.

But she hadn't been able to help it, and Klaus had redone it happily. He'd ignored them all and assured her that he loved her so much he'd propose a thousand times, anything to make her happy. She hit fast forward through the entire wedding planning process, what she'd recorded of it anyway. She didn't want to watch that. The thought of living through that kind of stress again was stressful itself. She didn't even want to think about how she'd had to go through six florists, 2 caterers, and 5 pianists.

She pressed stop when she saw her standing in front of a full body mirror, just minutes before the wedding. The room behind her buzzed with energy. Everyone was making last minute touch ups, her bridesmaids fixing each other and even ticking at Caroline, making sure her dress was in exactly the right place and that her veil was perfectly straight and that her curls were sufficiently curly.

She remembered being able to drown them all out. She was getting married. To Klaus Mikaelson. The very same Klaus Mikaelson that she'd known since she was eight. The very same Klaus she'd thought she despised for years. Or at least thought she was supposed to. She could hardly believe it. Caroline touched her face, unsurprised to feel that her it was tearstained. She wiped away the moisture and continued to watch the video, frowning as it cut to Klaus' pre-wedding preparations.

She choked back a small sob as she watched Klaus eagerly get ready to marry her. Stefan was in front of him at first, fixing his tie, but the second Stefan stepped aside she could see Klaus' excitement more clearly. Aside from the big stupid grin on his face he couldn't seem to stay still. She could see the love in his eyes. He was ready to marry her, more so than he'd ever been for anything in his whole life.

"You take care of her." Stefan warned in his serious voice. It was almost enough to make her smile. Almost. Klaus was about to answer, to tell Stefan that he'd take care of her and love her until the end of time but he cut him off. "That's not a brother to brother, friend to friend request, Niklaus. That's an order."

"What if she cheats on him with forty dudes and a donkey? Oooh and Elijah and Kol." Damon piped up from the corner of the room, where he'd apparently been nursing a bottle of champagne. Caroline rolled her eyes.

They ignored Damon, thankfully. It didn't matter though. Caroline could see that Klaus had been fine with it. He would have been ready to stay with her even if she did those terrible things.

She hit stop and took a swig of her wine. She didn't want to watch the rest. She couldn't watch Stefan walk her down the aisle, every eye in the room on her. She could stand to watch that even though every eye was on her, something she usually would adore, all she'd cared about was Klaus'. His gaze was fixed on her as though she was a mirage. Like she was a dream that would just poof away if he made the slightest move, drew the slightest breath. She couldn't watch their 25 year old selves be so foolishly in love.

She put her glass aside and curled up in bed, snuggling her face into her pillow as she wondered where they went wrong. What had they done wrong? Back then nothing mattered but the fact that they'd had each other. They'd been able to face anything. Their friends initial disproval, her father's death, Caroline's subsequent depression, and even his father driving his mother and himself off a bridge in a jealous rage.

She had been so sure her vows were the truth. That they would always love each other in sickness, health, richer, poorer, for better, and for worse. Caroline sighed and turned on her back, unwilling to allow herself to cry to sleep. Their honeymoon had been the third happiest moment of her life. The first of course would be the birth of their child, the child that the honeymoon resulted in, and the second would be actually marrying him. She and Klaus had made love so many times that night she'd actually lost count. It was beautiful. He kissed her all over, paying special attention to her face, promising to love and cherish her until the end of his days.

She knew not all promises were meant to be kept, but why did that one have to be a lie? Of all the things he'd promised her: a house in the hills once his business took off, a closet bigger than her mother's house, as many pets as she wanted – even cats. Of all the things he'd promised, why did him loving her forever have to be the one he didn't keep?

Caroline groaned when she realized she was crying again. She was so pathetic. She angrily wiped the tears away. She heard her door being opened and sat up straight, thinking it must be Klaus and praying that he hadn't seen or heard her crying.

"Mama?" Caroline let out a shaky breath. Her son William, named after her father, stood in the doorway clutching his favorite stuffed animal.

"What's wrong baby? Come here," she beckoned her son forward and he fast walked into the room and onto the bed, sitting in his mother's lap.

"I had a bad dream, mama." He complained, wiping the sleep from his stormy grey eyes. He'd gotten his father's eyes and dimples but everything else about him screamed Caroline. What other 5 year old had a filing system for their coloring books or a special system for organizing their stuffed animals?

"What happened, Will?" her son stared at her for a moment before he said anything. He snuggled his head in his mother's chest and hugged her tight.

"Where's daddy, mommy? He doesn't tuck me in anymore." Will's lower lip trembled and a few tears slipped down his cheeks. Caroline wiped them away quickly.

"I tucked you in, Will." Caroline said weakly, knowing it wasn't the same.

"You don't check for monsters or scare them away when you find one or promise to scare away the bad dreams or check to see if you tucked me in tight enough that I can barely wiggle my toes." He was wailing now, the tears falling too quickly for Caroline to catch.

"Shh, shh, it's all gonna be okay, my sweet boy. Daddy's still at work, Will. He'll be back soon. I promise." Caroline pat the spot next to her on the bed, the spot Klaus would usually occupy, and pulled back the covers. "Until then why don't you stay in here with mommy, yeah?" William sniffled and nodded his head as he slid underneath the covers.

He really missed his daddy. Daddy leaves for work before he goes to school and gets home just in time to tuck him in, always. But not really always because now and yesterday and even before that daddy didn't come home until after bed time. Caroline sighed and watched her son fall asleep minutes after she'd adjusted Klaus' pillow to his little head. She remembered when Klaus' business was just starting up and needed 24/7 constant supervision and maintenance. Even then, he'd never let work come before family.

Caroline idly wondered if she'd known this is what they would become would she still have married him. If it were just the two of them she definitely wouldn't have. But they had William. She wouldn't give up her son for anything in the world, not even a happy marriage.

* * *

Klaus closed his eyes and sighed, finally sated. He detangled his hand from the brunette's hair as she came up to kiss him, giddy smile on her face. He crinkled his nose a bit and turned his head at the last second so that she caught him on the cheek.

She made a noise, obviously disgruntled. Rolling her eyes she stood before him and slowly unbuttoned her sheer violet blouse, the camisole went next, then the bra, but he stopped her before she got to the zipper of her black pencil skirt.

"What do you think you're doing, love?" he tilted his chin upwards a little. Elena rolled her eyes again and scoffed.

"Finishing what you started, idiot." She narrowed her eyes a bit in what he assumed was supposed to be a sultry gaze. "I need you, Klaus."

"Yes, well I need to get home to my family." He stood and straightened his clothes. "And possibly to pick up some Chinese on the way home, I'm famished."

Elena grit her teeth and stomped her foot childishly. "When the hell are you going to leave that pathetic, vapid, neurotic little bitch, huh? She doesn't deserve you, I do! She'll never take care of you the way I do."

Klaus slowly turned to face her. He looked her up and down skeptically. "Actually she's quite phenomenal in bed, thank you." Elena laughed sarcastically.

"Oh please, you don't fool me. If she was really that good in bed you wouldn't come back to me each and every time." Elena crossed her arms. "I'm sick and tired of being your mistress! I'm sick and tired of coming second to that ignorant little brat and that bitch wife of yours."

Klaus growled and the next thing he knew he had Elena pinned to the wall by her neck. He shook her once, her head banged against the wall with enough force to knock down one of the books on the shelf. "Don't you ever speak that way about my family ever again."

"No." Elena insisted. "No. it's not fair! That should be me. We should have our own family. We've been together for a year. I'm tired of only getting you to myself when you 'go away' on business trips."

"I'm not away on a trip right now, am I?"

"I'm tired of only getting you after hours. I want you to leave her for me, Klaus."

"Listen closely, I will not repeat myself. I will never leave Caroline. Especially not for you. I don't care if I've been fucking you for a day, a month, a year, a century. I will never leave her. She's my wife and the mother of my son. I loved –" he closed his eyes and drew a careful breath. "Love her. I still love her. I will always love her." He released Elena and grabbed his things, preparing to storm out.

"That all may be true and you can fool yourself all you like. I know the real you Klaus! You may still love her but you're not in love with her. Not anymore. You love me." He shook his head. He didn't know whether or not the bit she said about him not being in love with Caroline anymore was true but he knew for a fact that he didn't love Elena in the slightest. "Either way, Mikaelson, you've already ruined your marriage. You'll have to live with that."

"Do tell Damon I said hello, will you? Provided he ever comes back from that beer run." It was a low blow to bring him up, but Klaus didn't care.

He sped home as quickly as he could, not a real challenge considering it was already 11:30, and the roads were barren. He walked into the house as quietly as he could. Will would be long asleep by now. Klaus ran and hand through his hair. A wave of guilt hit him. He hadn't been here to tuck him in. Just as he was about to go up and see Will he heard a noise coming from the kitchen.

"Sweetheart?" he called out. He made his way to the kitchen to see her washing a few dishes. "Hey, you're still up." he tried to kiss her on the cheek but she turned off the water and dodged him. Caroline put the glass she washed in the cabinet to dry.

"And you're finally home." she replied curtly. "How was work?"

He cleared his throat. "Fine. Elijah was successful in his overseas endeavors. Is everything okay, love? You're usually settled into bed with your copy of Catcher in the Rye at this hour."

"And you're usually home before this hour." She pushed up the sleeves of her cardigan and made her way to the steps. "I've set a blanket and pillow out for you in the living room. Rosa hasn't cleaned the guest room in a week and Will fell asleep next to me after you weren't there to tuck him in. Night."


	2. Chapter 2

Caroline sighed and spun the tip of her finger around the rim of her glass. She was usually a very good problem solver, but the problem of her failing marriage had her completely stumped. She and Klaus were growing further and further apart by the day. Back when he first started to be distant it would only be for a little while, a few hours or so, after that she'd get her husband back. Hours turned into days and those days turned into weeks and so on. She so rarely got a glimpse of her husband anymore she wondered if the man that waited for her, wooed her, and swept her away was even still there.

"Ready to tell me what's wrong?" Stefan asked for the billionth time in a row.

Stefan and Caroline had been best friends since before she could remember. Even though he worked so much that she barely got to see him anymore it was hard to imagine life without him. After Caroline woke up this morning to find that her husband had already gone she called to see if he was even in town. Luckily for her he'd be here all week.

"No. Ready to tell me what happened between you and Rebekah?"

"Nearly." Stefan smirked at her.

He and Rebekah had been together for a while, three years, two months, and a week. One thing led to another which led to another and she walks out on him, acquires herself an italian boy toy and jets off with him to Ibiza. He'd kept pretty quiet about everything that happened. He hadn't told Caroline, or Damon, or Bonnie. Rebekah's brothers probably knew of course, but that was different. Besides, any time Caroline even tried to bring it up, Klaus would just give her one word answers until she finally gave up. She'd actually given up trying to start converse with him altogether. He was barely ever home and certainly uninterested. Their interaction nowadays was mostly limited to taking care of Will.

"I can tell you that I don't blame her. Does it hurt? _Every_ damn day. Am I angry with her? A little. But I don't blame her. I want her to be happy, even if it's not with me…"

"Fair enough." That was the most concise answer she'd pried out of him so far so she accepted it. She stopped playing with her glass and took a sip of the slushy white contents. "My marriage is falling apart and I…I feel lost and helpless to stop it. I just don't know what to do, Stefan."

"What do you mean by falling apart?"

Stefan and Klaus had been best friends once, until the friendship "fell apart". They'd had a series of petty disagreements that managed to escalate into more serious problems until they'd gotten in an actual fist fight that earned Klaus a black eye and Stefan a bloody nose. Stefan hoped Klaus and Caroline weren't fighting like he thought they were. What if one of them said something in the heat of the moment anger that they couldn't take back? It certainly wouldn't help things. Them fighting wasn't good for her, him, and especially not William. That kind of environment was detrimental to kids.

"I mean…he's really distant and I hardly ever see him anymore. He comes home at the most unreasonable hours, I don't know what to think or say or do and I'm losing control." Caroline felt a sudden rush of is really what her marriage had come to, what her life had come to. It was all very pathetic. "I just…don't know what to do or where to begin."

She just wished Klaus would talk to her like he used to. He would open up to her in such a way she knew he'd never done with anyone else. Even if it took a little nudge if he had a problem she'd get it out of him and they'd talk it out. They used to work through everything together. She was ill equipped to deal with the huge wall between them. Christ, was this how everybody else who knew him felt? Klaus wasn't the best communicator but she'd always been the exception.

"Its almost like we hate each other again! We're completely slipping back into our high school dynamic. Pretty soon we'll be back to barely tolerating one another's presence and he'll start sabotaging all my events and embarrassing me in front of people."

"Care, calm down." Stefan placed his hand over hers and squeezed. "Have you considered marriage counseling? Bring him lunch and talk to him about it. What's the harm?"

What's the harm? What's the harm, is that that is the completely wrong way to handle Klaus. She may not know the right way right now but she knew him well enough to know that taking him to counseling was the wrong choice. Once she'd suggested therapy to help with his issues with his dysfunctional parents and that had worked about as well as Paris Hilton's music career. She could hardly even imagine them going in for marriage counseling. They'd be like Mr. and Mrs. Smith, stiff and uncomfortable in the chairs, wasting the counselors time as he or she attempted to make progress and barely even dented the surface.

Caroline began to feel the onset of a head ache. She felt so out of control. Venting to stefan had lightened the weight on her shoulders though, she could always count on his kind nature and empathy to make her feel at least a little better, no matter what was going on.

"Enough about my failing marriage, what've you been up to?"

"Just looking into some possibly profitable business ventures. I've been considering liquidating my shares in Klaus' company." He took a sip of his coffee. "I think it's a good idea to…cleanse myself of the Mikaelson's for a while."

"By cutting all ties with them?" Caroline raised a suspicious eyebrow. He'd been in business with his best friend, Klaus, dating Rebekah, and his two best friends were each romantically involved with a Mikaelson. Their lives were all pretty intertwined. The only Mikaelson he wasn't particularly close with was Elijah but that was because his past with Katherine made him super uncomfortable and being around Elijah just made that worse.

"Not all ties, of course." He could already see the wheels in Caroline's head turning and her coming to the conclusion that somehow he didn't want to associate with her anymore. "You and Bon are still my best friends. No matter what."

Stefan just wanted to be able to move on properly. He still clung desperately to the hope that Bekah would comeback to him someday but until that day, if it did come that is, he would have to move on. The only problem was that he didn't know what to move on to. He knew he didn't want to be tied to Klaus anymore, but he refused to get into the family business and he refused to go the way of his brother, Damon. Maybe Caroline could help him figure it out.

"Nothing's coming from the top of my head right now. But you've got to keep your skills in mind. You're fantastic with dealing with high maintenance people, like myself, you're good with cars, kind, funny, vaguely athletic, and good with money. Ever thought of doing something non-businessy?"

"Like what?"

"Acting or modeling. You'd make a good model. Your obsession with your hair is already at that level and your broody face is totally in right now." Caroline giggled as Stefan immediately and probably unintentionally glared at her, proving her point about his perfect pout.

Stefan rolled his eyes but tucked her ideas away to think about later. He'd really have to figure out what he wanted to do, soon. He wanted to detach himself from them as soon as possible. Having to still do business with Klaus was one of the most odious things he's ever done in his life. Having to face him after he lost Rebekah hurt, having to deal with him after their fall out was pathetic, but now that he knew what was going on between he and Caroline it was the final straw of an already full barrel.

Caroline was the sweetest little cupcake Stefan had ever known. She sure as hell didn't deserve what he was doing to her. She was the type of person who would put everything she had into something once she'd gauged whether or not it was worth her time. And by some grace of god, and many years of trying, she'd somehow come to the conclusion that Klaus was worthy of that time, effort, and affection. Having someone like her in his life had been the best thing to ever happen to him. She'd been the influence to finally get him to be a man, a decent human being. Stefan was under the impression that Klaus knew and was rightfully grateful for that. The path they were headed on now didn't seem like it had a happy ending and once upon a time Caroline had believed in fairytales.

Caroline was about to ask when he planned to hand in his resignation but her phone interrupted her before she could. Speak of the devil, it was Klaus. Something about a gala they were required to attend tonight. Great. She hated getting last minute notice of these things. She'd have so much to do in too little time. She'd have to acquire a dress, get her hair and makeup done, find a babysitter for Will, get a new pair of shoes, and call a town car to ensure they each got home safe. She heaved a heavy sigh and texted the housekeeper Rosa to take the appropriate tux to the dry cleaners for Klaus and to set aside her favorite sapphire jewelry set. Caroline looked up to Stefan with hopeful eyes.

"Hey, best friend in the whole world, want to run my ridiculously long list of errands with me?" Stefan gave her his best tortured look but nodded anyway. Caroline clapped, completely giddy that she'd just got him to agree to go shopping and beautifying with her. He'd probably hate her for an hour or three but he'd probably simmer down after a wash and set on that fabulous mane of his.

—

Klaus frowned at his phone when he got Caroline's reply. One letter. K. She couldn't even be bothered to put the 'o' in front of it. Perhaps her attitude lie in the fact that he came home late nearly every night and seemed to be neglecting his domestic duties. Well, whatever her mood he hoped she still had a pristine game face. He had two new prospective clients to impress tonight. They were southern and therefore quite big on the whole family angle. If he couldn't present himself as the perfect businessman mixed in with the perfect family man then he could pretty much kiss hundreds of millions goodbye.

Klaus briefly held panic in his heart that maybe she was going to divorce him. He wasn't a stupid and neither was she. He was a fool to think he could hide his cheating forever. But even if she did everything would be fine. They'd conquered so much together, his punishable indiscretions could be worked through. She'd put so much faith and love and acceptance into him, accepted all his flaws and moved past even the most awful things he'd done in his life. Surely, this would be like those. Besides he'd broken things off with Elena. She wanted more than he could give. Klaus refused to waste that kind of time on anyone. She was useful coitally, postcoitally she was nothing. She'd burned through her usefulness.

Klaus shook his head and forced all the distracting thoughts out of his head. He had meetings to attend to. He straightened his tie, scooped up a handful of portfolios, and prepared to enter the shark tank that was his company. He had no clue how he'd managed to find such a team of the most power hungry, ruthless, driven moguls but he had and managing them and their dealings gave him great pleasure. It was the greatest adrenaline rush he'd ever get, as strong as any drugs shot up the vein or inhaled nasally.

"Brother," Klaus stopped in his tracks as he entered the boardroom that had a gorgeous view of the city skyline. It couldn't compare to the view his home had of his estate or his vacation homes had of the beach, but it was still quite nice. "So lovely to see you again. It's been far too long."

Klaus smirked away his shock and opened his arms wide. Little sneak surprised him, that was usually no easy task. Klaus was used to having all eyes on everything and everyone everywhere. He kept tabs on every move the people in his life made. His family, friends, employees, and persons of interest were all surveillanced, all under Klaus Mikaelson's thumb. He'd been under the impression that his baby sister was still enjoying the spoils of Europe with her trophy boyfriend. The trophy boyfriend she'd left his former best friend and closest associate Stefan for. Admittedly, she was never really over Stefan. She'd just gathered up the poor lad as a quick and easy rebound. He was some model that had practically been obsessed with Bekah for years. All she'd had to do was tell him she and Stefan were through and they were off to a chartered jet within the hour.

"Little sister," he hugged her tight. He had missed his favorite sibling. She was always loyal, always loved him, and happened to be the perfect balance between his siblings. Elijah was always too stuffy, Kol was always too rowdy, Bekah was perfect. She'd always known how to be unattainably classy to the world then astoundingly mischievous behind closed doors. "It has been quite a while hasn't it? I want to know all about your travels, how've you been?"

"Of course you know how I've been. Completely fucking miserable masquerading as ethereally happy to rub salt in Salvatore's wound." She rolled her eyes and reclaimed her seat at the head of the table, which was normally Klaus' seat, but he didn't bother to say anything. She'd laugh in his face anyway. "Shopping therapy didn't work, massage therapy didn't work, hell even actual therapy didn't do the trick. Nothing can break me from my funk."

"Not even Giovanni?" Klaus paged his secretary to bring drinks and clear his calendar for the rest of the afternoon. He really had missed his sister, he wanted to spend the day catching up with her. Plus, Bekah had a certain niche for acting up when she felt she wasn't being paid proper attention.

"That nitwit can barely tell his left from his right. He was purely a great escape route at the time." Bekah waved her hand flippantly, fiddling with a diamond ring on her index finger. She caught Klaus' double take and laughed. "Tiffany's does have a certain stigma but no, sadly this is not for an engagement. Well,…it was, I've just yet to return it."

"Ah, yes. Well, that shouldn't be too much of a problem. He's in town at this very moment. I believe he's got plans with Caroline today." Rebekah's face fell. She'd been staring down at the ring, obviously entranced by memories she had no business thinking about or reliving, but now she looked seriously concerned.

"How is that…that is to say how are things, with the two of you?" Klaus finished off his bourbon and shrugged.

He was wary to divulge anything about his relationship to his sister. While she and Rebekah weren't necessarily best friends like Caroline and Bonnie but they were close. Bekah would hate him if she knew what he did. In fact the only person he could think of who wouldn't hate him was Kol. Kol with no moral standing or sense of right and wrong, just what pleased him. Elijah would hate him for being immoral and betraying a good woman, Bekah would hate him for hurting her, Stefan would hate him even more and possibly even attempt to physically harm him should Caroline even shed a tear. She was so loved, they both were. They had a very strong, tightly knit family. There was room for stupidity and mistakes and awful behaviors, but some things were perhaps too far past the line.

"I won't lie to you, we aren't doing well. But, I've recently become more willing to work on that. We'll fix it."

"Klaus…" Rebekah's voice held a knowing lilt and a clear warning. She knew he had a tendency to self destruct, he had a knack of ruining anything good in his life, and Caroline was the best thing that had ever happened to him.

"We're fine, Bekah. Enough about me, what about you? Ready to settle on something?"

"Well, as you know I don't quite like the idea of being a kept woman. Being a socialite while I let my man take care of business was fun, I'll admit but I think it's about time I move away from all that. The galas, charities, modeling, and media coverage was nice but I want more. I am going to be a designer. I am going to take the fashion world by storm."

"That's wonderful baby sister, and about time if I do say so myself."

Klaus and Rebekah spent the entire afternoon catching up and debating over business matters. He invited her to the schmooze fest tonight but she declined in favor of taking care of unfinished business. She wasn't happy with the way she left things with Stefan and was under the impression that if she simply returned the ring once and for all, instead of holding on to her last thread of hope for them, she'd find some type of closure in that. In Klaus' humble opinion, as the outsider who knew both of them inside out, there would be no closure for the two of them. They'd belonged together but they'd broken up for very good, very real reasons. They'd both contributed to their downfall and the fact of the matter was that Rebekah didn't stick around to see things through and Stefan didn't go after her to make things right. What kind of closure would they get from coming to that conclusion? Klaus bit his tongue though, because Bekah would do what Bekah would do. He just had to make sure that he was there to catch her when she fell.


End file.
